Journal lubricator



July 28, 1959 -r. w. POTTER 7,

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Filed Dec. 4, 195a 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 f 4 F9175? 2a 3/ 4 J9 QM Arroewsr July 2-8, 1959 T. w. POTTER JOURNAL LUBRICATOR 5 Sheets-Shet 2 Filed Dec, 4. 1956 JK/VE/vrU/P- EY- I lrrae/v'r July 28, 1959 T. w. POTTER JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Filed Dec. 4, 1956 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Two/mos M Par/5e E -W Q July 28, 1959 T. w. POTTER 2,897,028

JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Filed Dec. 4, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 JTVVE/W'UR- ix/owms It. Porn-e EL /am July 28, 1959 T. w. POTTER JOURNAL LUBRICATOR 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 4, 1956 XrraeA/ty United States Patent C) JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Thomas W. Potter, Chicago, Ill., assignor to JournalBox Servicing Corporation, Indianapolis, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Application December 4, 1956, Serial No. 626,254 3 Claims, (Cl.- 308-243) This invention relates to a device for placing in a railway journal box for lubricating the journal extending therein. The invention involves a unitary duck bag filled with combed wool and the bag being covered both top and bottom with looped strands of yarn attached to the bag in the nature of chenille knitting.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide an exceedingly simple and yet durable structure which will lift oil from the supply in the bottom of the journal box upwardly through the device to the journal surface primarily by capillary action through the device and not around the exterior surface only;" the forming of a bag to contain the woolcore out of one piece of ducking without additional pieces being added thereto; the provision of cars and a tongue extending from the bag in order to manipulate the bag into the journal box and under the journal as well as to remove it from the journal box; to provide a device which will hold within an enclosing bag a large volume of oil such as up to at least four and one half times the weight in oil as compared to the weight of the filling material; and to provide a lubricator which will become completely wetted with oil within the required twenty-four hour period under standard tests set up for lubricating devices for railway equipment journal boxes.

These and many other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those versed in the art in the following description of one particular form of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a view of a cotton duck strip; folded and partially stitched into bag form;

' Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the bag of Fig. 1 turned inside out;

i Fig. 3 is a view of the bag illustrating successive steps of stitching;

Fig. 4 is a view of the bag of Fig. 3 being filled with oil absorbent material;

A Fig. 5 is a view of the filled bag partially enclosed;

Fig. 6 is a view of the completed lubricator in top plan and partial section;

.Fig. Tis a vview in side elevation of the completed lubricator in partial section;

Fig. 8 is a central, longitudinal section through a journal box and the lubricator installed therein;

Fig. 9 is a view in transverse section onthe line 99 in Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a view in transverse vertical section on the line iii-10, Fig. 5, through the lubricator apart from the journal box.

' ,A rectangular strip of cotton duck generally designated by the numeral is folded on a transverse line 16 to have free ends 17 and'18 coincide. This cotton duck strip 15 has previously been provided with areas of yarn loops 19 extending from one face to any desired length, such as from around two, two and one half, or three inches, this yarn having been passed through the canvas strip in the nature of chenille knitting to leave tight loops Patented July 28, 1959 20 on the other side face of the strip, these loops 20 being fully in contact with the surface of the duck. The strip 15 is folded to have the looped portions 19'within-the folded over portions, and then the strip is stitched along its side edges 21 and 22 as indicated by the stitching 23 in Fig. 1. This forms a bag or envelope closed by the fold at the line 16, and along the side edges through the stitching 23, with the end portions 17 and 18 being left separated one from the other.

The next step in the formation of the bag is that as is indicated in Fig. 2 wherein the stitched strip of Fig, l is turned inside out to have the loops 19 appearing' on the outersides of the bag, and the edge portions and 22 disposed interiorly of the bag. As means for shortening the loops along the boundaries of the looped area, the outermost loops are stitched as best indicated in Fig. 10 by double lines of stitching 24 and 25 adjacent their emergence through the ducking 15. This provides for shorter loops along the marginal area longitudinally of the strip 1 5 with the full lengths of the loops 19 disposed therebetween. As indicated in Fig. 10, these stitched loops are designated by the numeral 19a and the full length loops by the numeral 1%. This stitching 24 and 25 on each side is done of course before the strip 15 ,is folded at the line 16 and stitched together along the marginal edges 21 and 22. It is to be further noted that the area of the loops 19 disposed on strip 15 is limited in respect to the fact that the outer loops 1911 are spaced inwardly, that is laterally, from both the. edges 21 and 22. so as to leave marginal areas 26 and 27 of the ducking exposed thereby.

Also as will be noted in the various views. of the drawings, the areas of the loops 19 terminate longitudinally of the strip 15 so as to leave a length of ducking 28 exposed around the fold line 16 and also lengths. exposed adjacent the .ends 17 and 18. A

It will be noted in Fig. 2 that in turning the bag inside out, the seams 29 and 30. defined by the stitching 23 in each instance will be substantially disposed centrally between the marginal areas free of the yarn 19, those marginal areas being designated by the numerals 26 and 27. The bag is shaped into a more or less rectangular cross sectional condition and the closed end .of the envelope at the fold line 16 is formed into ears 31 and 32 of a triangular shape, and in order to hold the rectangular shape of the bag/these ears are stitched as at 33 at right angles to the seams 29 and 30 as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3. The length of the stitching 33 determines the width of the envelope transversely of the seams 29 and 30.

The envelope is further defined by stitching beads or welts longitudinally of the envelope in spaced apart parallel relation to the seams 29 and 30 and at right angles to the ear stitching 33 to define the four corners extending longitudinally of the envelope. As indicated best in Fig. 6, the welts 34-37 have lengths exceeding the corresponding lengths of the area of the looped yarn portions 19, these yarn loops terminating at zone 38 on the end of the envelope carrying the cars 31 and 32 and terminating at the zone39 at the opposite end of the envelope.

The envelope is then transversely stitched to form the welt 40 across the one side spaced from the ZOI16;3,9, Fig. 6, transversely across the seams 29 and 30 on the. sides .and across the opposite face carrying the loops. That is to say, the welt 40 extends around the four sides of the bag continuously.

Grommets 41 and 42 are fixed into position on the ears 31 and 32, these grommets preferably extending across the stitching .33 in eachinstance in order to cause the cars 31 and 32 to extend normally diagonally, outwardly as indicated throughout the various views in the drawings. The envelope which may be generally desig nated by the numeral 43 thus formed has what may be termed a smooth portion 44 extending longitudinally beyond the encircling welt 40.

This envelope 43 is then filled with a core of wool at least ninety-eight percent pure, and in a combed state and not in a yarn state. form in layers approximately one and one half inches thick under no compression, and the batt is cut about This wool is prepared in batt one and one half inches wider than the width of the envelope 43 and about one and three quarter inches longer than the envelope terminating between its closed end 56 and the welt 40. Some six or seven layers of this wool in the batt form are laid together and the pile would have an expanded thickness of aproximately ten inches. In this pile, the wool fibers are laid in parallel directions. This pile of batts is not folded, but is compressed in the usual manner of forming a mattress to dimensions slightly less than the interior of the envelope 43, and in this compressed form is slipped into envelope 43 through the end portion 44. The ends of the batts when thus inserted terminate substantially at the plane of the Welt 44), perhaps extending slightly outwardly therebeyond. It is to be remembered that this wool has not been spun into threads or yarn, but consists entirely of the individual wool fibers combed into parallel relation throughout.

After this filling of the envelope 43 with the wool material designated by the numeral 45, the seams 29 and 30 are pushed inwardly over the end of the material 45 one toward the other, Figs. and 6, to have envelope edge portions 46 and 47 lap one against the other and the edges 17 and 18 brought down one to the other. This folding on each side produces diagonal side edges 48 and 49, and then the envelope 43 is transversely stitched as at 50, Figs. 5 and 6, so as to completely enclose the end of the wool material 45 and provide an extending tongue generally designated by the number 51 in turn bound into unitary structure by the marginal stitching 52.

A pair of grommets 53 and 54 are positioned in this tongue 51, the grommet 53 being adjacent the edge 49 and the grommet 54 being adjacent the edge 48. These grommets are also positioned intermediate the stitching 50 and 52 transversely of the envelope.

In view of the fact that the wool core 45 is not spun nor otherwise fabricated but is left in the combed individual fibers, it is advisable therefore to prevent lumping or displacement of the material 45 from one portion of the envelope to the other. In the present form, this displacement is prevented by means of quilting the envelope through the opposite sides carrying the yarn loops 19. This quilting arrangement is best indicated in Figs. 810 where a number of lengths of yarn 55 are passed through the two opposite sides of the envelope 43 and through the material 45 so that it may not shift laterally or longitudinally or in any direction within the envelope 43. The tongue 51 will be what may be termed the outer end of the envelope.

Referring to Figs. 8 and 9, a journal 60 is shown as extending longitudinally or axially into a journal box 61, and receiving on its upperside the usual journal brass 62 all in the usual and well known manner. The journal is provided with an outer end collar 63 and also a fillet 64 at its rear end portion just within the box 61. The brass 62 bears on the journal 60 between the fillet 64 and the collar 63. This is normal and well known construction.

The device constituting the present invention is entered through the front box opening 65 by employing packing rods (not shown) engaging in the grommets 41 and 42 and pushing the filled envelope 43 down under the collar 63 and bringing the rear end of the envelope back against the end 66 of the box 61. This will allow the tongue 51 to extend forwardly from the end of the journal 60, and the welt 40 on the topside of the envelope will press upwardly toward the journal 60 with some of the yarn loops 19 being interengaged there between. In placing the filled envelope in the box and under the journal 60, the envelope and its core will be compressed considerably so that there will be yielding pressure from the floor 67 of the box 61 and the underside of the journal 60. It is to be noted that the entire lubricating device described will have the dimensions such that less than half of the underside of the journal 60 is contacted by the yarn loops, and there will be an extension of the envelope 43 beyond the loops laterally of the journal 60 due to the exposed portions or zones 26 and 27 being provided on the duck strip 15 originally.

Further it is to be observed that not only are there yarn loops 19 between the journal 60 and the topside of the envelope 43, but there are also yarn loops between the underside of the envelope 43 and the floor 67. Normally there will be substantially one inch of lubricating oil carried on the floor 67, and the lower yarn loops 19 will be in that oil reservoir. Before compression of the envelope 43 and its core 45, the envelope, not counting the thickness of the yarn on each side will be approximately two and one half inches thick.

These yarn loops are arranged in rows spaced not to exceed approximately one quarter of one inch, and the yarn in each row is looped through the ducking, one strand as close as it may be to the next strand and still retain suflicient ducking therebetween to form the short retaining loops 20 on the inside of the envelope, Fig. 1. These loops are made out of a combination of both wool and cotton normally, although substantially pure wool may be used. One common mixture of wool and cotton will range in the neighborhood of thirty percent wool and seventy percent cotton. The thirty percent wool yarn is desirable over either all cotton or all wool, there being suflicient wool to promote capillarity even in the presence of excess moisture and there being suflicient cotton to permit it to be twisted with the wool, making the total yarn resilient and wear resistant. The cotton alone would not have the resiliency and the Wool alone would not have the resistance to wear without special treatments that might reduce capillarity and filtering.

It is to be pointed out further that there are no mechanical springs employed, and that the envelope 43 is made out of a single unitary strip of ducking without added parts stitched thereto in any respect. The only additional parts constitute the grommets which are inserted in the ducking, in the ears to the rear and the tongue at the front, for use in positioning and removing the device in relation to the journal box. All of the grommets are preferably made out of soft metal, such as brass, or even one of the so-called plastics, to have the grommets rigid and yet be softer than the steel of the journal to prevent journal scoring or damage should one of the grommets accidently come into rubbing contact with the journal.

The core 45 made out of the substantiaHy pure wool in the combed state and not spun serves as an excellent reservoir of oil, the entire core being highly permeable to oil, and constituting a reservoir of oil fed upwardly from the floor level 67 and maintained in the core at the higher elevation adjacent the underside of the journal, the oil being carried in capillary action from the reservoir through the yarn loops and passing through the canvas ducking to be in direct contact with the reservoir so that the oil actually passes through the core from the floor and is not confined solely to travel through the ducking around the outer envelope side and top and bottom surfaces.

In addition to the dirt filtering action of the yarn loops, the cotton ducking does serve as an excellent dirt filter keeping that core material 45 clean so that it does not become clogged with the dirt finding its way into the journal box in the usual course of events.

The front end of the envelope 43, particularly along the welt 40, may be coated or covered with a wear resisting material which is substantially unaifected by the presence of oil so that there will be no tendency for this welt portion to be unduly worn down adjacent the collar 63. Likewise the rear end of the envelope 43 may be coated with the same material where it comes into close proximity to the fillet 64, although normally there will be loops of the yarn 19 therebetween. One such material is commercially obtainable under the name of neoprene. Nylon and other materials such as synthetic resins in flexible tape form may be employed.

While the front and rear ends of the envelope 43 may be treated to resist wear as above indicated, there is another factor to guard against. The interior surface of the journal box 61 is rather rough since it presents an unfinished, non-machined face of a casting. Under axial shifting of the journal 60 relative to the box 61, such as may occur when the vehicle carrying the box is travelling around curves, there may be a travel of the lubricator along with the journal causing the envelope 43 particularly to shift or slide over that rough surface of the box with the possibility of setting up undue wear along the welts 35 and 37, or 34 and 36, depending which ones may be disposed adjacent that surface, the welts 35 and 37 being thus disposed. These welts, and the entire sides of the lubricator may be covered with the anti-friction material as above indicated in reference to the front and rear ends. Likewise these anti-friction coverings may be formed into tapes and attached to the ducking, or the ducking may be impregnated therewith. In any event, the presence of the anti-friction material does not interfere with the capillary functioning of the core 45 and the top and bottom sides of the envelope 43, nor does its presence adversely affect the capacity of the core 45 to hold the reservoir oil supply elevated above the box floor.

As above indicated, not only is the ducking 15 and the core 45 highly saturated with oil in the normal usage in the journal box, but a high degree of capillarity is maintained at all times directly through the core since wool fibers are particularly capable of absorbing and retaining for capillary travel high weights of oil for their volume. A device of the nature described when placed in a vessel containing an inch of lubricating oil of the type normally employed in journal boxes will become thoroughly wet from bottom to top within the normal test-required period of twenty-four hours, an action which is unobtainable where cores heretofore employed have been made out of rubber or other materials impermeable to oils. For complete success of the lubricator in a railway journal box, there must be this high availability of oil adjacent the under surface of the journal itself in order that complete lubrication may be had under all working conditions.

Under test, it has been shown that, because of the great reservoir capacity of the lubricator, when the atmospheric temperature is extremely low, the journal is adequately lubricated from this supply of oil within the lubricator through the outer ends of the yarn loops immediately between the core and the journal over that critical time intervening from the starting of journal rotation and the time when the oil supply on the floor of the box becomes suificiently warmed to permit the capillary action to lift the oil from that supply upwardly into and through the core. In a comparative test of the lubricator along with other lubricators not having that reservoir core, at sixty degrees (F.) below zero, the lubricator embodying the present invention adequately lubricated the journal through this initial period of time whereas the other non-reservoir lubricators under the same conditions failed to do so.

Each of the lubricating units will contain between nine and nine and one-half ounces of the wool in the 9-10 size unit andapproximately ten and one-half ounces in the 1ll2 size unit. This wool will retain oil in weight within the duck envelope approximately four and one-half times that of the wool weight. The 940 size designation indicates the approximate top (and bottom) area in inches of the envelope 43 (when filled), which size is usable for journals nine inches long and five inches in diameter, and also for the next larger journal measuring five and one-half inches by ten inches. The 1 1-12 size likewise designates the top (and bottom) in inches of the envelope 43 for the journals six inches by eleven inches. By reason of the fact that the envelope is in one piece and constructed as above described, stitching thereof is held to a minimum, thereby holding to a minimum otherwise the number and extent of compressed zones in the envelope which would tend to retard free and easy capillary travel of the lubricating oil through the ducking from bottom to top. That is, the envelope 43 is so constructed as to afford the maximum possible transfer of oil upwardly with the minimum retardation.

Therefore it is to be seen that I have provided an ingenuous lubricating device for lubricating journals in a railway journal box, and while I have described the device in the one particular form, it is obvious that mechanical changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A lubricator comprising a generally rectangular envelope made of ducking and closed at both ends and having top and bottom faces with intervening side walls; an ear extending laterally from each of two adjacent corners at one end of the envelope and each ear having an eye therethrough; means reinforcing said eye and maintaining said ear in erect condition; a tongue integrally extending from the opposite end of the envelope and having at least one eye therethrough; a core of combed and commonly aligned wool fibers within, completely filling and resiliently distending the envelope; a plurality of loops of yarn attached to and extending from a limited area on each of the top and bottom faces, said areas extending substantially throughout the lengths of said faces between said ends and terminating laterally thereof short of said side walls, said tongue having end portions of said top and bottom faces extending therein, and end portions of said side walls folded between the top and bottom faces.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said envelope is in one piece including said ears and said tongue, and said envelope is quilted by strands of yarn through the envelope and said core retaining the wool in batt formation; said strands having portions exposed on said faces and covered over by said yarn loops.

3. In a railway journal box receiving an axle journal above the floor thereof, a lubricator comprising an approximately rectangular envelope of fabric of high oil permeability; a batt filling said envelope of free, unspun wool fibers compressed therein approximately to one-fifth of the free batt unrestrained thickness, the fibers being aligned in side by side parallelism one with another and with the top, bottom and sides of said envelope; yarn strands spaced apart and extending through said envelope quilting top and bottom sides and the intermediate batt, maintaining the wool fibers in place against shifting while leaving said envelope top and bottom sides in approximately uniform pressure throughout against said batt; and a multiplicity of yarn strands secured to the top and bottom sides of the envelope presented exteriorly thereof as oil reservoirs; said lubricator being compressibly held between said journal and the box floor and aligned with the journal with said fibers parallel to the axis thereof.

(References on following page) "7 E V E V References Cited in the file of this patent 2,485,901 UNITED STATES PATENTS ggfigi 631,502 Hagy Aug. 22, 1899 2 75 93 933,207 'Southwell Sept. 7, 1909 5 2,157,626 Pennimau May 9, 1939 McVicker et a1. Oct. 25, 1949 Lee Mar. 17, 1953 Hagy I1;1y 19, 1955 McLeod Aug. 14, 1956 

